Felicita Sartori (later von Hoffmann; 7 September 1713 – 24 July 1782) was an Italian painter and
pastel
A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...
list.
Life
Felicita Sartori was born in
Pordenone
Pordenone (; Venetian and fur, Pordenon) is the main ''comune'' of Pordenone province of northeast Italy in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region.
The name comes from Latin ''Portus Naonis'', meaning 'port on the Noncello (Latin ''Naon'') River'.
...
, the daughter of notary Felice Sartori. Her uncle was
Antonio dall'Agata, an engraver in
Gorizia, and it was he who served as her first teacher. It was also he who arranged for her to join the studio of
Rosalba Carriera
Rosalba Carriera (12 January 1673 – 15 April 1757) was a Venetian Rococo painter. In her younger years, she specialized in portrait miniatures. Carriera would later become known for her pastel portraits, helping popularize the medium in eighte ...
, and she moved to
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
around 1728. Carriera was at the height of her popularity, and it is believed that Sartori, along with her sisters, provided copies of her work for sale. Sartori remained close to her teacher. In 1741, she moved to
Dresden and married Franz Joseph von Hoffmann, councilor to
August III. He died in 1749, at which point her movements became unclear; Sartori remarried to a nephew of her late husband, Lothar Franz Hoffmann, and probably moved to
Bamberg
Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castle. C ...
.
The surviving works known to be hers are apparently all
miniatures, mostly drawn from well-known works by Carriera; it is also recorded that she produced some copies in oil. An early biographer notes that she learned pastel before specializing in miniatures, and the extent of her work in the medium is unclear, although it seems likely that some of those copies in pastel of Carriera's work which survive might be hers. Around 19 miniatures survive in Dresden; all date to her time in that city. A portrait of Sartori by her teacher is held by the
Uffizi Gallery.
She died on 24 July 1782 in
Sacile, where she had settled around 1760 to be closer to her family.
[https://www.academia.edu/68662325/Schegge_documentarie_su_Rosalba_Carriera_Antonio_DallAgata_Felicita_Sartori_e_la_loro_cerchia_pordenonese_Atti_dellAccademia_%CA%BDSan_Marco%CA%BC_di_Pordenone_XXIII_2021_pp_445_472]
References
1710s births
1760 deaths
Italian women painters
18th-century Italian painters
18th-century Italian women artists
People from Pordenone
Painters from Venice
Italian pastel artists
Women pastel artists
18th-century women painters
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